2078 Insects. 



all the gradations of shade from pale stone-colour to ashy-brown. The double striga?, 

 which are common to all the wings, are usually distinct, being considerably darker 

 than the general ground colour and somewhat undulated. Rupicapraria ranks next 

 for size of wings, the anterior pair of which have a single broad purplish brown bar in 

 the centre, which passes into a slender striga on the secondary wings. The colour is 

 whitish ash, with a pinkish hue. The abdomen is darker and glossy, and the tail 

 slightly tufted. Aurantiaria makes the next best show, but the wings are still more 

 rudimentary than in either of the two already described. The insect is dark umber- 

 brown, the scales on the rings of the abdomen being dotted with dirty yellow. The 

 upper wings are traversed by two dark bands ; on the lower, two are likewise visible 

 with the microscope. The little rarity leucophaearia is very nearly, if not entirely, ap- 

 terous. Its colour is gray, and its general outline is so distinct from others of the 

 group that it is readily distinguished. It is found, like most of its congeners, on the 

 boles of oaks, but from its hiding in the crevices of the bark it is very seldom met with. 

 Defoliaria, an autumnal species, is entirely apterous. Its colours sufficiently charac- 

 terize it. It is yellow, beautifully mottled with scales of shining black. It is decidedly 

 the largest of the apterous Hiberniae. Anisopteryx sescularia is by far the rarest of 

 these wingless creatures. As its specific name implies, its caterpillar feeds on the 

 horse-chesnut, and the perfect insect is to be found in March on the boles of this tree. 

 It is perfectly apterous, without even the rudiments of wings. Its colour is light 

 brown ; its abdomen, which is a little darker, is furnished with a brush, its best cha- 

 racteristic. The largest of our apterous females is Phigalia pilosaria. It is party- 

 coloured : the upper side of the abdomen has a rufous tinge, with dark irrorations ; 

 the under side is whitish, thickly sprinkled with dusky atoms. Small rudiments of 

 wings protrude on each side of the thorax. Next in size are the Nyssiae, the one 

 (zonaria) being strictly littoral, the other (hispidaria) not uncommon in our oak-woods 

 during the month of February. In colouring, as also in size, hispidaria bears some 

 resemblance to pilosaria, but its slightly pectinated antennae and its thick hairy legs 

 readily distinguish it. It wants, moreover, the irrorations that characterize pilosaria. Its 

 ally, zonaria, is blackish, very pilose, having the rings of the abdomen margined with 

 orange. The wing-scales are more prominent than in hispidaria. The last and com- 

 monest of the apterous females is Cheimatobia brumata, which usually appears abun- 

 dantly in November and December. I found last year between thirty and forty on a 

 single evening. It is likewise the smallest. Its colour is glossy brown, the wings be- 

 ing far less produced than those of its companion on the same hedge, rupicapraria, 

 and wanting the roseate hue which renders the latter such a favourite w r ith collectors. 

 — Peter Inchbald ; Storthes Hall, Huddersfield, February 18, 1848. 



Correction of an Error at page 1988. — I find I have committed a great error in 

 giving leucomelana, Guenee, as synonymic with Weaverana, Dale. I should have said 

 ochromelana, Guenee, to which insect the description applies. Leucomelana of Guenee 

 is the betuletana of Haworth. — H. T. Stainton ; Mountsjield, Leivisham. 



Coriscium quercetellum and C. alaudellum of Zeller, described many years previously 

 by Haworth as Gracillaria substriga and G. cinerea. — Adverting to my remarks (Zool. 

 1995) on the registration of new species of native Invertebrata, I beg to call attention 

 to an important fact, frequently lost sight of in the anxiety of naturalists to register 

 their apparent novelties, that is, they are novelties occasionally in name alone, so diffi- 

 cult has the extrication of synonymes become : as examples, I would adduce the recent 

 notice of Coriscium quercetellum, Zeller, and C. alaudellum, Dup. (Zool. 1985), with 



